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Michael Vazquez concentrates his practice in the areas of personal injury, wrongful death, products liability, medical malpractice, insurance coverage and property damage litigation. He is a senior-level litigation attorney with extensive trial experience, and in more than 25 years of practice has successfully tried numerous cases to verdict.

Michael was appointed in 1997 to the Florida Human Rights Commission, which oversaw and monitored complaints of abuse at South Florida nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. While in law school, he was an intern at the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office, and served as guardian ad litem, representing orphaned and neglected children before the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit.

Areas of Focus

Commercial and General Liability Michael has extensive experience in commercial and other general liability matters. He represents commercial clients primarily in litigation matters involving premises liability including negligent security and slip-and-fall litigation.

Insurance Coverage DisputesMichael defends insurers in cases involving denials of insurance coverage and disputes over the valuation of damages. He is experienced in defense of insurance coverage disputes involving life insurance, commercial general liability policies and travel insurance policies. Michael also provides coverage opinions on a variety of policies including homeowners’ insurance, life insurance, travel insurance and condominium insurance policies.

Professional Liability Michael’s professional liability practice includes the defense of physicians and allied health professionals throughout the State of Florida. In association with the defense of these matters, Michael has handled issues before professional boards and agencies, representing individual professionals in disciplinary and licensing matters.

Product Liability Michael is experienced in the defense of products liability cases involving power tools, heavy machinery, industrial machinery, and consumer goods such as automobile tires, sporting goods and automatic garage door openers. He has obtained a number of favorable resolutions and jury verdicts for his clients, including Coca Cola Enterprises, TGI Fridays Restaurants, Baptist Hospital of South Florida, Sears Roebuck & Company and Aspen Specialty Insurance Company, and other national retailers, restaurant chains and insurers.

Representative Matters

Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a large retail mall on the issue of whether defendant had a duty to warn the plaintiff of an open and obvious hazard.

Obtained a defense verdict on behalf of a local auto parts retailer in a premises liability case in which the plaintiff suffered an elbow fracture requiring a total elbow replacement.

Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a foreign insurer in a coverage case in North Central Florida on denial of coverage for a third-party tort action involving the home invasion and the homicide of six tenants by a former squatter at the property who was evicted by one of the murder victims. The basis of the underlying third-party action was the alleged negligence of one of the grandparents in instructing their grandchild to have the squatter evicted, and to remove his personal property from the premises.

Wilson Elser

More than 800 attorneys strong, Wilson Elser serves clients of all sizes, across multiple industries and around the world. Wilson Elser has 38 strategically located offices in the United States and one in London. It is also a founding member of Legalign Global, a close alliance of four of the world’s leading insurance law firms, created to assist companies doing business internationally. This depth and scale has made it one of the nation’s most influential law firms, ranked in the Am Law 200 and 56th in The National Law Journal’s NLJ 500.